RICHLAND, Wash. - EM’s Richland Operations Office (RL) is closer to completing remediation of a hazardous waste site after workers recently removed the final piece of a buried pipe and finished clearing more than 300,000 tons of contaminated soil.
Altogether, crews have removed more than 400,000 tons of low-level waste from the 618-10 Burial Ground. Completion of the project is an objective in RL’s 2020 cleanup vision, which addresses remaining cleanup along the Columbia River and focuses future operations on the Central Plateau’s waste sites, aging facilities, and infrastructure.
“Removing this highly contaminated waste from the Cold War marks a proud moment in our progress, and we have the team of hard-working, highly experienced people at the 618-10 project to thank for it," said Bryan Foley, RL’s federal project director for the burial ground cleanup.
Workers from RL contractor CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) finished digging 67 feet to groundwater to remove uranium-contaminated waste in May. They disposed of the low-level radioactive soil at the Hanford Site’s onsite landfill, the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility.
Employees took out the last of 94 vertical pipe units (VPU) buried 20 feet belowground. They contained radioactive waste from the Hanford Site ’s 300 Area laboratories and fuel development facilities during plutonium production.
The last 14 VPUs remediated were made of heavy-gauge steel and smaller in diameter compared to the 80 units completed in February. They required a new technology that exposed short segments of the pipes, which were then sheared and processed under a grout mixture.
“These achievements are the result of years of preparation," said Tammy Hobbes, vice president of the 618-10 project at CH2M. “We are near the end of this remediation project, and we are proud of the teamwork and safe progress made."
Crews are preparing to remediate a nearby waste site associated with testing contaminant migration through soil during the early years of cleanup.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
